Within the Star Wars narrative, the Clone Wars are fought to prevent thousands of planetary systems from seceding from the Galactic Republic and forming the "Confederacy of Independent Systems", often referred to as the Separatists. The Republic uses an army of clone troopers, the namesake of the conflict, led by the Jedi Order against the Separatists' battle droid army. The conflict is manufactured as a scheme for the Republic's Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, secretly an evil Sith Lord, to gain power and ultimately convert the democratic Galactic Republic into the dictatorial Galactic Empire featured in the original trilogy.

Lucas used the Clone Wars to answer questions about the original trilogy, such as how the Empire came to be and how Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader. The political and military events of the Clone Wars draw inspiration from real-world conflicts and historical events, such as World War II and Adolf Hitler's rise to power, and bears similarity to the American Civil War.

The first reference to the Clone Wars is in Star Wars creator George Lucas' third draft of the first film, which mentions the grizzled cyborg General Kenobi's "diary of the Clone Wars".[1] The wars were mentioned twice briefly in the final version of the film, referring to Obi-Wan Kenobi as a General who served Leia Organa's father during the conflict.[2] In drafting The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Lucas considered introducing a clone character who had been involved with the Clone Wars.[3]Leigh Brackett's first draft of the film initially developed Lando Calrissian as a clone from a planet of clones involved in the Clone Wars mentioned in A New Hope and were nearly made extinct by the war.[4]Boba Fett was also considered as from a group of shocktroopers nearly wiped out by Jedi Knights during the Clone Wars.[5] However, these concepts were not included in the final version of the film. Lucas was more guarded about the details of the Clone Wars than any other element of Star Wars,[6] even making them off-limits to licensed products and books.[7] Because of Lucas's proscription on the topic, Timothy Zahn's first draft of Heir to the Empire (1991) required significant revision because the text included an insane clone of Obi-Wan Kenobi created during the Clone Wars.[8]

All democracies turn into dictatorships—but not by coup. The people give their democracy to a dictator, whether it's Julius Caesar or Napoleon or Adolf Hitler. Ultimately, the general population goes along with the idea. What kinds of things push people and institutions in this direction? That's the issue I've been exploring: how did the Republic turn into the Empire? ... How does a good person go bad, and how does a democracy become a dictatorship?[12]

The clone forces shown at the Attack of the Clones' conclusion comprised the largest digital army created for film at that point.[13] Lucas proposed to concept artists that Revenge of the Sith would open with a montage of seven battles on seven planets.[14] Lucas then radically re-organized the plot,[15] which Michael Kaminski surmises in The Secret History of Star Wars stemmed from flaws with Anakin Skywalker's fall to the dark side of the Force. Instead of opening the film with various Clone Wars battles, Lucas decided instead to focus on Anakin.[16] The absence of the "seven battles on seven planets" in part led to Lucas's decision to launch the CGI animated Clone Wars television series; Lucas said the cartoon could "do better" at depicting the conflict.[17]

Attack of the Clones, set at the beginning of the wars, opens with the Galactic Republic's rising concern about the secession of thousands of star systems to the Confederacy of Independent Systems, which is led by Count Dooku. Chancellor Palpatine manipulates Jar Jar Binks and the rest of the Galactic Senate into granting him emergency powers. Investigating two attempted assassinations of Senator Padmé Amidala, Obi-Wan Kenobi discovers Dooku used the identity of a dead Jedi master to secretly arrange the creation of a massive clone army on the Republic's behalf. Yoda leads the clone army to rescue Obi-Wan, Padmé, and Anakin Skywalker from the Separatists on Geonosis, and the first battle of the war ensues. At the battle's conclusion, Yoda declares that the Clone War has begun.

Revenge of the Sith shows the waning days of the three-year Clone Wars, in which clone soldiers and their Jedi generals have fought against the Separatist droid army. After killing Dooku and rescuing Palpatine from the Separatists during their assault on Coruscant, Anakin learns Padmé is pregnant. He becomes troubled by visions of her death in childbirth, and Palpatine lures Anakin to the dark side of the Force by promising to teach him how to prevent her premature demise. Meanwhile, Yoda is dispatched to Kashyyyk to stave off a Separatist invasion, and Obi-Wan Kenobi is dispatched to Utapau where he kills General Grievous. Anakin discovers Palpatine is a Sith Lord, but he defends him against Mace Windu because he needs Palpatine's knowledge to save Padmé. After Palpatine murders Windu, he dubs Anakin his new apprentice Darth Vader. Palpatine orders the clone army to execute Order 66, and clones kill their Jedi generals across the galaxy. Palpatine then dispatches Vader to kill the Separatist leaders on Mustafar and to issue a "shutdown command" to their droid army. With their demise, Palpatine declares an end to the Clone Wars and the Republic's reformation into the Galactic Empire.

The cel animated Clone Wars series (2003–2005) depicts several Clone Wars battles and was meant to generate interest in Revenge of the Sith. It also depicts the prelude to the opening battle of Revenge of the Sith and Palpatine's capture by General Grievous.

Several years later, Lucas chose to reboot the series as a 3D CGI series developed by Dave Filoni. After several years of production on the new television series, Lucas decided to spin off the first four episodes as a standalone film.[18] The film, released in 2008, introduces Ahsoka Tano as Anakin's apprentice and depicts the Republic and the Separatists attempting to gain permission to travel through Jabba the Hutt's territory, as well as the Separatist invasion of Christophosis.

The television series that followed (2008–2014) is likewise set against the backdrop of the Clone Wars. The show offers additional details about the clone army's creation, depicts numerous confrontations and developments from the conflict, and portrays the interaction between the clone troopers and their Jedi commanders. The series reveals that each clone has an "inhibitor chip" in his body that makes most of them obey Order 66.

The prequel trilogy brought an end to Lucas's embargo on licensed material set during the Clone Wars. As such, Lucas Licensing sanctioned several novels and comic books set during the conflict. Dark Disciple novelizes a story arc about Asajj Ventress and Quinlan Vos from eight unfinished episodes of The Clone Wars,[19] and the Kanan comic book series depicts the eponymous Star Wars Rebels character Kanan Jarrus as Jedi Padawan Caleb Dume during the conflict. LucasArts also produced video games like Republic Commando and The Clone Wars that depict the Clone Wars.

Comparisons have been made between the political aspects of the Clone Wars and the events leading up to World War II. Radio host Clyde Lewis' article on historical similarities in Star Wars claims that Palpatine's tactics parallel those of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany; both leaders used wars and scapegoats to manipulate society's emotional state, thus providing the leadership with support and power.[20] Another writer compares the Clone Wars with World War II in general, basing his argument on the fact that Lucas was born during the baby boomer generation, and the dark times featured in the original trilogy rival the dark, uncertain Cold War.[21] Referring to Lucas's statements that the conflict in Star Wars was inspired by the cultural backdrop of the Vietnam War, journalist Chris Taylor said the Clone Wars are a parallel to World War II.[6] Anne Lancashire from the University of Toronto also points out some similar nomenclature between the Clone Wars and the American Civil War.[22]

Several publications compared the political context of the Clone Wars to the War in Iraq. In claiming that the Star Wars galaxy under the deceitful Palpatine parallels the modern issues of the United States, an editorial on Antiwar.com states that Star Wars "establishes first the generally agreeable premise that it's right to overthrow oppressive government, before bringing into focus something more discomforting – that the corrupt tyranny referred to is our own".[23] Additionally, an article from Wiretap claims that "like Palpatine, the Bush administration has been able to feed on people's fears to gain more power".[24] Lucas stated that the Iraq conflict "didn't exist" when he developed the Clone Wars,[10] but he did see parallels between the Vietnam conflict that inspired Star Wars and the conflict in Iraq.[11]Star Wars producer Rick McCallum also said that the Clone Wars was developed before the War in Iraq, and he added that Lucas "is a product of Vietnam".[25]

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Chris Taylor called the Clone Wars "a major part of Star Wars lore".[26] In its attempt to keep its Star Wars line of toys active after Return of the Jedi (1983), Kenner devised a storyline that would involve the return of an exiled "genetic terrorist" and his Clone Warriors.[27]

Timothy Zahn said the clones' unexpected appearance fighting for "the good guys" in Attack of the Clones — despite many years of fan speculation that the clones were an invading force — was "wonderfully blindsid[ing]".[13] After seeing the CGI Clone Wars television show, Zahn was grateful Lucasfilm rejected his initial Heir to the Empire draft, which had a different depiction of the conflict.[28]